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Tuesday, March 12, 2013

As mentioned recently, this is the much acclaimed and anticipated, in my mind, follow-up post on how to save your dough when the yeast is dead. Or at least when it appears to be dead. Often it's hard to tell for sure. If the yeast is truly dead, I'm not sure that it can be resurrected.

However, it is the season of miracles. Easter is a mere few weeks ago. Many of us may be doing some Easter baking trial runs and want to make sure that when holiday arrives, our dough will rise.

When measuring sugar, you really have to hit the sweet spot and get the exact right amount. Too much or too little sugar can cause problems.

Do not let yeast come in direct contact with sugar. If the ratio of sugar to flour is more than 1/2 cup sugar to 4 cups flour, an additional packet of yeast (2-1/4 tsp) per recipe is needed.
An excessive amount of sugar slows down yeast fermentation.

Kim at the hotline offered some advice and feedback on how I handled the situation last time.

In theory, if there is any yeast alive, it will eventually come to life no matter how little there is. ... It is usually best to give yeast some extra moisture and work with a slack dough in instances of difficult yeast. We have certain bread recipes that start with very little yeast in the sponge and require 14 hours or so to become active/yeasted—perhaps the first suggestion would be to let the dough sit at room temperature for 8 hours or so to see if comes back.
I liked that you attempted to incorporate two doughs. Otherwise, it might be best to pursue a more hands-on approach: kneading some fresh yeast dissolved in water into the dough slowly and gently. Being gentle will prevent the dough’s gluten from breaking down if kneaded for an extended period. I would start with 2 Tsp dissolved in 3-4 Tbs of barely warm water and then work the liquid into the dough either on low speed with a stand mixer or by hand. It’s better than tossing it in the trash!

~ CHEF PHILIP SMITH + SOURDOUGH STARTER~

I definitely appreciate this additional advice. Recently I had the chance to speak to Bruegger's Bagels Executive Chef, Philip Smith at a blogger event. While I was there to learn about Bruegger's Bagels, in the back of my head I was thinking about this post too. How could I pass up a chance to ask a professional baker his opinion? I couldn't.

So as I was leaving the event, I asked Chef Smith for his advice. He was very gracious and said that he wasn't sure that dough could be saved, but that maybe Biga or Poolish would work.

I have the opposite of a poker face and imagine that I must have given him a quizzical look, because I had no idea what he was talking about. He wrote down the words and I looked them up. Basically they are methods for creating starters for bread. Which is why I'm working on my own now. I figure it might be a good thing to have around.

Via a later email, Smith clarified a bit more.

I think the reviving process is fairly straightforward to
bring any yeast back to life. To be clear there does have to be some “evidence
of life.” Basically a few cells that can be goosed back into
reproducing. If it is truly dead. Then it may be beyond help. Remember yeast
can be frozen, although there are consequences to freezing. ... It does
require some planning ahead as you will want to go through 3 generations (days) before you will have a healthy and balanced starter.

Refresh your existing yeast starter discarding any loose
liquid that floats on top the starter itself. This can be very sour with sourdough
starters and if not discarded creates too vinegary an environment for even
any remaining few cells.

Follow a standard of adding ¼ cup of room temperature water + ½ cup
sifted flour and keep overnight in a warm room temperature spot. Look for bubbles. If no bubbles after 24 hours, the starter may be beyond rescue and at that point
may simply be only dead yeast cells. But these too can be useful to add
a tangy sourdough profile to new starter. Some commercial bakeries use dead cells
to create sourdough flavor note supplements that are natural, but add sourdough
tang.

Assuming your starter has revived, discard a half, repeat
the adding of flour and fresh water. Do this three times in all. The starter should be revived and
self-regulating at that point.

Apropos Easter, I always think of lighter breads - challah, zopf, brioche, babka, choereg, hot cross buns, etc. For these a fresh yeast would be best, particularly if you want a lighter flavor. Easter breads trend to be tender crumbed, sweeter egg style breads, some even add baking powder to aid leavening and keep light or whip eggs to fold in. A sourdough may be too much.